First crop based bio refinery in Sweden

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Just outside Svalöv in Scania is Sweden’s first biorefinery to make the chemicals of agricultural crops under construction. There, wheat, hemp and other plants is converted into chemicals, plastics, paints, PET bottles, packaging, ink, vitamins and other products that society needs. Today all made of crude oil. - As the oil runs dry, it is only a matter of time before it becomes a sheer necessity to switch to renewable raw materials, says Josefin Ahlqvist, project coordinator for Biorefinery Sound. The venture is an EU funded Interreg project. As the name suggests, including both Swedish and Danish participants in the project. Altogether, these are about twenty people, mainly from Lund Institute of Technology, Technical University of Denmark and the Swedish Agricultural University. Representatives from the Swedish and Danish business and politics are on the board. In autumn 2011, the facility is to be completed and operational. At first, it will mostly conduct research and test runs. Amongst other things, to try to exploit hemp, chicory and artichokes to produce chemicals and bioenergy. The focus will be on producing chemicals at competitive market prices. Of surplus raw materials should be done biogas, fertilizer and animal feed. - Compared to eg production of biogas is very much more complicated to produce chemicals. Biogas can be made of garbage! she says. The facility will not only be used for university research. Even companies that are in need of equipment and infrastructure to be able to test their own commercial ideas, it is thought. - A view of the Biorefinery Sound’s to get a plant that can be beneficial for the industry in the Øresund Region. Therefore, Novozymes and Perstorp with the project steering group, says Josefin Ahlqvist. The biorefinery will be built in connection to the research facility in the Department of Biotechnology at Lund University. There are many who say they like to have access to a biorefinery and will now have the opportunity to test their ideas on a large pilot scale. For more information, please contact: Josefin Ahlqvist, josefin.ahlqvist@oresund.org, 046-222 86 20 Martin Hedstrom, PhD Biotechnology at Lund University, 046-222 75 78, 0705-58 53 11. Kaj Embrén, Sustainable Business Coach, +46-70-398 22 11, kaj@embren.com.